Pages

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Kids & Technology: The Webkinz Friends App

A few weeks ago I shared our experience with the Webkinz online world. The Lil Divas really enjoy taking care of their pets and playing all the games online so I knew they would be excited to take their game play on the go with the new Webkinz Friends App.

Downloading the app was a breeze and it was FREE (yay!). You do not need a webkinz code to play but you can play with your own pets on the app as well. The Webkinz app takes playing to a whole new level because you are actually building your own town with adopted pets, homes and businesses. You can even visit a friend's town for some fun interactive play.

Getting started was easy because the helpful Mrs. Birdy and Dr. Quack walked us through the set-up/getting started process where we adopted our first pet and completed our first goals/tasks which included building a home for our pet - Goldie, a golden retriever.

In order to fully develop your town you must build it from the ground up, literally. The Lil Divas really enjoyed adding, shops, roads, decorations, attractions and adopting more and more pets as we played. They really enjoyed visiting the Kinzmart and shopping to their hearts content, as long as they had the required cash of course.

The Oldest Diva took her role as architect very seriously. She would read through all the choices, trying to decide what would give her the best investment for her money. She has her heart set on developing a fabulous town. It is still a work in progress as she harvests her crops, expands her land and continues to build every chance she gets.

The Littlest Diva is a bit more impulsive - she is all about decorating! She put herself in charge of the fashion side of things and seems to spend money more quickly than her poor big sis can earn it. She loves visiting the Kinzmart to buy decorations for Goldie's home and is always adding fun things like ferris wheels and scenery to the town.

One of the things I like is that it has been super easy for them to play together, collaboratively. The game requires some patience as elapsed time is necessary for a lot of tasks. That works well for us as there always seems to be a new task to complete, a crop to harvest, etc whenever one of the Lil Divas is ready to play.

Overall, I have to say that the Webkinz Friends app is pretty addictive. I'm not embarrassed to admit that once the Lil Divas call me over for "help" I usually get pulled in and they end up having to remind me to hand over the iPad and let them play. So consider yourself forewarned!

We definitely recommend this app whether you have your own webkinz or not because as I mentioned earlier, no special codes are necessary. Anyone can play & kids of all ages (including us parents) will certainly enjoy it.